ANA, AAAA, SAG and AFTRA Agree to Extend Contract-AdWeek

August 28, 2008

Unions, Ad Groups Agree to Extend Contract

The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have agreed to another six-month extension of their commercials contract with two ad industry groups, the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers.

The latest add-on follows a previous two-year extension to an October 2006 deal that was set to expire Oct. 29. The first extension was made to give time for a study on online compensation that was conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton. Details of the study haven't been made public.

The extension comes with SAG stuck in a stalemate with the studios and networks over a new television and film contract, which expired June 30. There are several unresolved issues, most notably compensation and jurisdiction for work in new media.

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After the relationship fell apart, AFTRA negotiated its own prime-time TV contract with producers, one that included the same new-media provisions accepted by the writers and directors unions but rejected by SAG.

"Today's announcement only deals with the extension," AFTRA spokesman John Hinrichs said. "A decision on Phase One and joint negotiations has to be decided by the AFTRA national board."

If the two unions do decide to negotiate a new commercials pact under Phase One, they would need time to meet with members, known as the wages and working conditions process.

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"These commercials contracts were established when there were only three networks," Freed added. "They've obviously changed over the years to incorporate cable, but now it's changing so rapidly it's hard for the guild to keep up."